THE THIRD BOOK OF MORONI

1Behold, in the _fortieth year_ since the destruction of the Nephites, as I was reading in the archives of Mentina, I found in them a short history of the doings of the Jaredites. Yea, and I found it to be an abridgement of the greater records and of great use unto the convincing of the Nem to diligence in keeping the laws and statutes of God and to the holding of the course which He has set for us. And also, because the record speaks of the utter destruction of an entire people, I have caused excerpts of it to be impressed upon cylinders, in order that small books might be made after the fashion of those that were one time carried by the Nem who journeyed afar off and could not come often to read in the libraries. Now, these cylinders may be infused with ink and rolled upon kirlis or parchments and the impressions left are as if they had been written upon plates, except that the leaves of the books are not at all durable and cannot be preserved.

2And this was of great usefulness unto the Nem, but even more so for those few Nephites who had fled from the awful work of destruction and who have taken up their residence in Elak Kowa. For, they set aside the things that filled their hearts during the war and it must be understood that they do not wish ever to return to them, even in their private contemplation. But behold, these little books contain the record of other people and they find it more easy to contemplate the acts of the Jaredites and be reminded, than to remember their own acts.

3Yea, so useful was this little book unto the repentance of those Nephites who had come into the Nem after the war, that I deemed it important that they should be added unto the plates that I had left behind in the archive at Cumorah. Wherefore, I did take the record back to Cumorah and I opened the record I had added to that great library and added thereto the abridgement of the record of the Jaredites, even that which we do attribute to Ether.

4For my father had made the plates with sufficient space to write a greater record, for who could have known that the Nephites would utterly destroy themselves? Yea, he did add plates unto the record in order that there might be space enough to write a continuing history. And even I did add plates when I had the charge of them. Behold, this has always been the custom of they who had the charge of the records of the Nephites. And even they who had this charge, and were not righteous, still they made more plates and added them to the original.

5Wherefore, when my father took up the plates, he found them to be very many and he made new plates whereon he might make an abridgement of the entire record. And when he made new plates, he continued the custom passed down from our fathers, but his abridgement did not fill the plates that he had made. And I also followed in this custom, for, we did not stay in one place but were driven by the war into parts unknown and often enough into places where we knew of no ore to molten. Wherefore, it was a good custom to carry empty plates with us.

6But, again I say, my father thought to write a greater history than that which the Nephites left us. And, when the Lord showed him what would be the end of the Nephites, he had already made the plates. And, though he feared that it might be possible, he never quite believed that the fair race of the Nephites would sink into utter collapse and ruin. Wherefore, he filled only a portion of the plates which he had made. And, not having any clear notion of what my own future might bring while I too labored among the Nephites, I too made new plates when the occasion allowed.

7And now, for most of my lifetime the records of the Nephites have slept within the library of Corianton in Cumorah, and I traveled to the place where the records are kept and opened again the box in which I had placed the plates, the sword of Laban and the Urim and Thummim with its breastplate, and I took out the plates and wrote upon them the abridgement that Ether had made of the history of his people.

8And when I read again the last things that I had written in the record my heart swelled within me even so much that I thought it would break. And I was harrowed up again by the memories of the acts and horrible atrocities of the war and of both parties in it.

9And I deemed it needful and full of necessity that I add a little more unto my own record there and the Spirit did manifest also that I should do it. And I went upon the Way and saw the little flock of Gentiles which the Lord would bring into this land in the last days. And I inquired unto the Lord what things I should add unto my record, for the Spirit did manifest to me that my record would come up out of the earth unto the remnant of the children of Lehi left in the land through this little flock. And they would become a little nation among nations and begin to do a great work whereby the record of the Nephites would be spread upon all the face of the earth.

10And the Spirit moved upon me and showed me what I ought to add unto my own record to their benefit. And, after I had completed the work, I did seal the remaining plates up with a band, for the Nephites are no more. But now the Spirit does whisper unto me that the sealed portion may again be made useful unto the remnant and that they may be filled up in the end by such as the Lord calls again to record the doings of His people.

11And it was _four hundred sixty and two years_ from the coming of the Lord unto the Nephites, and unto the Nem, that I did these things and I am satisfied that a great good shall come of the things that are recorded in my father’s book. For, I have seen the days in which they shall come forth, that the Gentiles shall rule the whole earth and shall control the hearts of the more part of the inhabitants of it. And they shall drive the people even from the shedding of blood unto the shedding of blood, just as the Nephites and the Jaredites. Wherefore, it may be that these records may be at least as useful unto the survivors of that time as they have been unto the Nephite survivors of my own city.

12For if in the last days there may remain any who will give up this wickedness and repent and turn away from it altogether, that even the possibility might again exist that a generation might be brought up without the memory of the fallen, then shall Zion be established again. Yea, if it so be that the Lord shall bring again Zion, it shall be among a people that have cast aside the things of the world and its unrighteousness in preparation for a generation of peace.

13And I have seen that the Lord shall work upon the hearts of men as He sees fit. And the Holy Ghost does continually strive with all men and women who have the capacity to set aside the world and its wickedness. And I have seen that the Lord will use the Gentiles to do a great work, and a great preparation. But they shall not bring again Zion. Nevertheless, they shall prepare the way before those that shall.

14Yea, even as John the Baptist could not make the atoning sacrifice, yet could he prepare the way for One who could. Yea, he did cry repentance in a wilderness of wickedness and a way was prepared for certain good souls to receive their Creator. And even in the midst of awful wickedness, He did comfort them and they were greatly enlightened and magnified.

15I have walked upon the Way and seen the day of wickedness. And you may believe me that the day which I have seen surpasses all the wickedness of all the ages. But behold, I have seen that the record which I did seal up in a box and place in the library of Corianton, even in Cumorah, shall be chosen of the Lord and delivered up unto a prophet in the last days. And, though that prophet shall not be found perfect in all things, yet shall the book that shall come to light through him be unto the Gentiles a guide and an anchor. And through it a generation shall be prepared to come again out of Babylon and to establish Zion again in this blessed land.

16And I have also seen that the Gentiles shall spread themselves upon all the face of the earth and their blood shall mingle with all the races of the earth. And when this does take place among the remnants of the house of Lehi, there shall rise out of this mingling a Remnant of the House of Israel. And I have seen that this little flock shall establish again a Heaven on Earth, even Zion in the midst of madness.

17Yea behold, it shall come to pass in the last days that the spirit of their dead fathers shall rise up again and speak to the matter of their bodies as a familiar spirit which does speak to them out of the dust. And some of them shall turn unto this curious prompting and they shall break with all that is deemed wisdom. And they shall go again into the wilderness, for though the earth be covered with people, so it shall be deemed. And they shall cast off the shackles of their captivity and, putting upon them a beautiful garment and adorning themselves for the wedding feast, they shall fill their lamps and wait upon the Lord. And He shall know them and welcome them in.

18And behold, those Gentiles who shall also go with them out of Babylon and shed the sins of the world, for they shall have taken them up fully, they shall even be grafted into the House of Israel with them. Yea, that blood in them of Isaac and of Jacob shall rise up again within them and they shall be remembered of their fathers. And they shall walk again in Zion and shall be numbered among the people.

19But the Gentiles who shall not be moved will continue in their wickedness even as the Nephites who could not be moved and the Jaredites who could not be moved. And it shall come to pass that they shall meet the same end. Yea, their ways shall utterly collapse and they shall wander to and fro in search of someone who might lead them again to their former greatness. But there shall be none such to be found, for they shall have lost the capacity to be moved upon by the Holy Ghost.

20Recall now the words of the Book of the High Place, that the Holy Ghost does not move upon the beasts or the trees, for they have no need of such movement. Behold, they fulfill the measure of their creation. But unto man it is given to move upwards. Therefore, if he retains the capacity, the Holy Ghost can move upon him. But, when man has given up that capacity and becomes as the beasts of the field, behold, the Holy Ghost shall not move upon him anymore, lest he repent.

21It shall come to pass that the more part of the Gentiles shall sink into this awful state. I have seen their day and I have witnessed their doing. Their history shall be one of blood and horror and, though their fathers all be the same, they shall divide themselves against each other and the slaughter shall be as never before in the history of the children of Adam. And the more part of the inhabitants of the earth shall be caught up in this wickedness and it shall be as though an enemy has despoiled the House of God and left it a wilderness.

22But, out of the Gentiles shall come a little flock that shall cry in this wilderness as John did. And they shall be esteemed strange among their neighbors, even as John was called a wild man. And they shall be moved upon because of that within them that shall speak as if out of their own dust. Yea, a familiar spirit shall rise up in them such that they shall be moved upon to make an experiment upon the words of the Lord. And they shall be led to the library of Corianton, even unto Cumorah, and one chosen from among them shall take up the record which I have sealed in a stone. And a little flock shall gather and they shall cry out in the wilderness and prepare the way for the establishing of Zion.

23And they shall carry a principle into the wilderness and a generation shall attempt to live this principle. Yea, and a generation shall learn somewhat of Zion and they shall experiment with it. But they shall not succeed except in planting the seed.

24And it shall come to pass that this seed shall take root in the hearts of but a few of the Gentiles and it shall be safeguarded there for a season to come.

25But all the rest shall be caught up in the things of the world and shall suffer. Yea, for they shall attempt to mingle the things of the world with the things of God and this mingling shall befoul all that they touch. And, ere the coming of the Lord, the getting of gain shall have become a law unto them to the extent that precious few shall be rescued. But they that are rescued, because of the memory of the fathers which shall rise up within them, shall be numbered among the Remnant of the House of Israel which shall be left in the land.

26And behold, I say unto you, Without this little seed, which shall be planted into the hearts of a little flock among the Gentiles, the Remnant could have no remembrance of the ways of Zion. For, they shall have been driven and trampled and made a hiss and a byword. And it shall come to pass that they shall be caught up also in the drive to become elevated in the eyes of men. And they shall have taken up the ways and customs of their captors.

27And it shall be because of the record which shall be delivered to them finally in the end that they shall look again within and find there the blood of their fathers crying in the wilderness. And they shall turn again unto the principles which governed the Nem in the time of their prosperity, as also the Nephites before their destruction and the Lamanites in the times after the coming of the Lord unto them. And they shall little by little, one person here and one person there, one family here and one family there, come out of Babylon and establish Zion once again in this blessed land.

28And, because that their blood shall have been mingled with the blood of the Gentiles, this effect shall spread somewhat out into the Gentiles to the extent that some few of them shall join with them and assist them. Behold, these shall be grafted in and it shall be unto them as if they had been born among the Remnant of the House of Israel left in the land. Yea, they shall be adopted in and, though the more part of them be Gentile, behold, the Remnant blood shall rise up and take the hold of the body until they are Israelite every bit.

29And when this does come to pass, they shall no more call themselves by the nation out of which their fathers arose. Rather, they shall call themselves by the Name of the Lord their Creator. For they shall have been created anew and peace shall have been written in their souls. Wherefore, they shall call their Lord the Peacemaker and they shall call themselves His disciples.

30And it shall come to pass that it shall be as in days of old. And, at least among the Remnant, there shall be no manner of Ites, and they shall have all things once again in common. For, among them shall all the nations of the earth be blended. Yea, among them shall be found all the blood of the creation and they shall be one people, Zion.

31It was for this cause that I did add somewhat unto my writings in that book which contains the abridgement of the writings and records of the Nephites. Yea, it is because the Lord showed unto me that a great work shall be commenced among the descendents of Lehi through the Gentiles that the Lord shall bring into this land in latter days, that I did return again unto the hill wherein I did hide up the record of the Nephites and add some few things that I deemed important unto their success.

32For, when the Great War had ended and the Nephites had utterly destroyed themselves, I had thought never to write again. And I did believe in my heart that the Lamanites would never cease the work of destruction until all who were not like unto them were destroyed from off the face of the earth. And I believed that they would take the war even unto the Nem until they too were no more.

33But I was wrong in this belief and, as I have already written, we see that the Lamanites did not stay long in the land of their conquest and, after the Nephites were utterly destroyed and their light extinguished, the Lamanites returned again into their own lands, and only a very few desired to remain in the land. And behold, most of those that did remain, having in just two years lost the desire for blood, became almost to a man, Nem.

34But the Nem continued no longer in their preparations for war, after that Heinmet went again into all the cities and instructed them all to break down their preparations for war and to dismantle their armies. And when this was done, the war was not brought unto the Nem and the Lamanites departed back down into the Land Southward.

35And, as a man of war, this was a curious thing to me. For I, even as my father before me, was raised up unto the Nephite people as a captain and a leader of their armies. Wherefore, I was trained in all the matters of war and the prosecution of it was part of my stewardship even from my youth. And it was a wonder to me that the Lamanites did not continue to prosecute the war upon the Nem.

36Behold the work of faith! When the Nem had yielded up their fear of war and returned once again to lives of peace and of faith, the war was taken away out of the land. Now, I do not say that it was done immediately. For, the Lamanites did regress into war amongst themselves almost immediately upon having destroyed the Nephites. But I say that the war was not brought unto the Nem and the Lamanites returned unto the Land Southward and there the more part of their wars amongst themselves did take place.

37And this is the thing that remains curious to me and is a wonder to me. And behold, it will always be a thing of faith unto me and a reminder of the great power of faith unto the salvation of peoples and of nations. And it shall always remind me also of the great love of God for all those who would follow His path and remain in the way of righteousness.